I'm getting sick of hearing about people who are wasting their votes for the ballot. Don't vote for old characters to come back. If you want to play as them, go back to the game they were in. And I've just about had it with people voting for characters that already appear in the game (unless they appear in trophy form). You cannot have assist trophies become playable, nor can you have stage hazards become playable. That's just stupid. Don't waste this opportunity. Vote for someone new! If you're worried about old characters not coming back, don't worry, they could always just make more DLC.
What's the point of only voting for new characters if people really liked veterans and
want them to return? The ballot isn't only for newcomers, it's for
fighters, both veterans
and newcomers. Hell, if Sakurai sees enough support for someone like Ridley, what's to say he won't change his mind on the idea and make him DLC anyways? Sakurai has shown himself as willing to change his opinion before even when it'd seem unlikely he'd do it (Villager), so what's stopping him from doing it this time besides a couple of people who'd be outraged because "he's too big!"? Not to mention that the only reason he hasn't added Ridley yet is because he's
not sure on how to make him work. If he had a solid idea of how Ridley could work, he'd most likely be in the game. Veterans like Wolf
already have that knowledge, so it's easier to make them than it is to make someone that has never been done before (like Chorus Kids or Rayman).
If someone like Ridley gets enough backing, Sakurai
will notice it and
will try to make him playable either in this game (using the Other M Ridley's clone status as a scapegoat) or add him into the next game as a fighter due to fan demand. Same thing with King K.Rool; if he gets enough backing, he'll probably be playable at some point. Sakurai doesn't just do what he wants, he listens to the fans and tries his best to please them. And if the fans say that they want someone like Ridley or K.Rool to join the battle as playable or that they want a veteran like Wolf to rejoin the smash, it shouldn't damn well matter
who someone votes for, just that they voted for who they
wanted.
Plus the way Ridley's been treated makes me think less that Sakurai thinks he
can't work and more he's trying ideas to
make him work and is slowly building a foundation for a playable Ridley. In Brawl, he was a basic boss (and a Dyna-Blade clone), which he decided didn't work. So in the next game, he made Ridley a stage boss with his own attacks, stock icon and the ability to be KO'd, which is a very rough base for a Smash fighter. Though this still drew some ire, it seems that most people seem to tolerate Pyrosphere!Ridley
because he feels like some kind of awkward boss/fighter hybrid.
Popularity and explanation is what will really filter the winners from the losers in this ballot, not "lol play brawl if u want dis charecdur". :/